The LORD said, "If you will not obey my commands, you will be punished.

I will punish you. I will bring disaster on you---incurable diseases and fevers that will make you blind and cause your life to waste away. You will plant your crops, but it will do you no good, because your enemies will conquer you and eat what you have grown.

"If even after all of this you still do not obey me, I will increase your punishment seven times.

All your hard work will do you no good, because your land will not produce crops and the trees will not bear fruit.

I will send dangerous animals among you, and they will kill your children, destroy your livestock, and leave so few of you that your roads will be deserted.

then I will turn on you and punish you seven times harder than before.

I will cut off your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake all the bread they have. They will ration it out, and when you have eaten it all, you will still be hungry.

then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before.

I will destroy your places of worship on the hills, tear down your incense altars, and throw your dead bodies on your fallen idols. In utter disgust

I will destroy your land so completely that the enemies who occupy it will be shocked at the destruction.

Then the land will enjoy the years of complete rest that you would not give it; it will lie abandoned and get its rest while you are in exile in the land of your enemies.

"I will make those of you who are in exile so terrified that the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will make you run. You will run as if you were being pursued in battle, and you will fall when there is no enemy near you.

You will die in exile, swallowed up by the land of your enemies.

"But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me,

I will remember my covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will renew my promise to give my people the land.

But even then, when they are still in the land of their enemies, I will not completely abandon them or destroy them. That would put an end to my covenant with them, and I am the LORD their God.

All these are the laws and commands that the LORD gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.

The LORD has finally done what he threatened to do: He has destroyed us without mercy, as he warned us long ago. He gave our enemies victory, gave them joy at our downfall.

All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said. We sinned against you, and so you brought on us the curses that are written in the Law of Moses, your servant.

giving us all the punishment described in the Law of Moses. But even now, O LORD our God, we have not tried to please you by turning from our sins or by following your truth.

You must honor me by what you do. If you will not listen to what I say, then I will bring a curse on you. I will put a curse on the things you receive for your support. In fact, I have already put a curse on them, because you do not take my command seriously.

Other people are selfish and reject what is right, in order to follow what is wrong; on them God will pour out his anger and fury.

There will be suffering and pain for all those who do what is evil, for the Jews first and also for the Gentiles.

Obey the LORD your God and all these blessings will be yours:

" 'God's curse on anyone who makes an idol of stone, wood, or metal and secretly worships it; the LORD hates idolatry.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

" 'God's curse on anyone who moves a neighbor's property line.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

" 'God's curse on anyone who deprives foreigners, orphans, and widows of their rights.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

" 'God's curse on anyone who has sexual relations with an animal.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

" 'God's curse on anyone who has intercourse with his mother-in-law.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

" 'God's curse on anyone who accepts money to murder an innocent person.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

The LORD will not forgive such a man. Instead, the LORD's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the LORD has destroyed him completely.

But evil people are doomed; what they have done to others will now be done to them.

Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!"